On March 18, 5 a.m. Beijing time, Sony released a 14-minute live demonstration of Hogwarts: Legacy.
The "Harry Potter" IP spin-off game, which debuted at the 2020 PS5 conference, earned enough expectations from fans at the time. Although Hogwarts: Legacy, which was scheduled to be released in 2021, was later put on a direct ticket jump for various reasons, judging by the content of this live demonstration, the game may be much fuller than I thought.
However, it is a little confusing that the game is expected to launch multiple platforms, and even the Switch platform is included. Combined with the Switch's declining functional level in recent years and the gorgeous graphics in the demonstration, it is difficult not to be confused by it.
"Can't you get in any way?"
But aside from Warner's mysterious determination to "harden" the NS, the live-action demo of Hogwarts: Legacy is pretty talkative.
01
A living wizarding world with many elements
After watching the real machine demonstration, the first reaction in my head was: there are so many elements. For a full 14 minutes, the game is introducing new content or gameplay almost every minute, and you can appreciate that they want to create a real wizarding world with enough rich elements and beautiful graphics.
The game showcases Hogwarts in the late 1800s, where players will enter Hogwarts House as a 5th grade transfer student to learn magic. You can indeed play magic duels with your classmates in Defence Against the Dark Arts class, and you also need to boil potions in Potions class.
There is also an entire Hogwarts Castle to explore in addition to the course, and in the demonstration you can see the house-elves cooking in the back kitchen, and the hanging paintings talking to each other can be seen in the corridors.
In addition, there are secret passages and dungeons hidden throughout the castle that need to be solved to find, and magical animals scattered around the castle and its surroundings can be seen, and such restorations and details of the original are only the tip of the iceberg in the demonstration.
In the real machine demonstration, there are no less than ten kinds of spells alone, in addition to the landing spell, flying spell, suspension spell and other spells commonly used in the original book, there are also dark wizard spells such as "Avada So life". And players can combine and construct spells during battles according to their own gameplay. I have to say that this is quite appealing to me.
"Arvada nibble on a melon!"
The game also features scenes from the surrounding areas other than Hogwarts, including the wizarding village of Hogsmeade. Players can ride a broomstick or griffin into the sky to explore the entire map. You can also feel the dynamic weather system and seasonal changes in the game as time progresses.
Regardless of the content of combat and exploration, players can also socialize and build friendships with classmates, complete relevant side quests and even recruit them into the team. Or grow herbs in the House of Needs, craft potions to aid in battles, and build your own home and a garden for magical beasts.
The sheer amount of gameplay and content shown in hogwarts: Legacy in the live-action demo is certainly not stirring the hearts of fans yearning for the wizarding world. Judging from the content displayed in the real-life demonstration, what the production team wanted to do was to create a living wizarding world with countless gameplay and elements that conformed to the world view and were full of life.
This approach seems clever to me, and the game developer, Avalanche Software, clearly grasped the pain point that the Harry Potter series has been not acclaimed or popular - "players may prefer to enter the wizarding world than play Harry Potter and watch the story again".
02
Warner's "To Harry Potter" road
There are actually not many game works related to the Harry Potter IP, the most famous of which is the many Harry Potter series produced by EA in that year, following the pace of the movie. In addition to EA, Warner himself has released several LEGO-themed Harry Potter games.
"Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" is already one of the best work in terms of word-of-mouth
However, due to the poor reputation of EA's Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows and the end of the movie, in addition to a few AR experimental games, Warner has not touched the console and PC games of the Harry Potter IP for a long time.
But that doesn't mean Warner has given up on the IP's development in the gaming space. In 2017, Warner established the Portkey Games brand to specifically distribute games related to Wizarding World.
Portkey Games then released three mobile games, one Hogwarts Mystery, the main content of which is to be a Hogwarts student in school, and the gameplay is also the content of the course. There is also an AR mobile game "Harry Potter: Wizards Unite" developed in cooperation with Niantic, a developer of Pokemon GO, which is also very similar to Pokemon GO, holding up a mobile phone to cast a spell in the real world.
Hogwarts Mystery
Another is Harry Potter: Magical Awakening, co-developed by NetEase and Warner.
In fact, judging from the creative direction of Portkey Games and harry potter-related IP works in recent years, Warner has obviously found a correct direction - "going to Harry Potter". Both the mobile game Hogwarts Mystery and the movie Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them are trying to perfect a real wizarding world.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Judging from the word of mouth of subsequent works, fans seem to have accepted the content of such works. Even without Harry Potter and his friends throughout the story, this wizarding world is exciting enough. After all, Harry's story was over, and it was a waste to have such a big world.
Hogwarts: Legacy is on this path, moving the game forward to the end of the 1800s with the goal of retiring familiar characters for all players and creating a complete and rich wizarding world. "You'll see different stories that are exclusive to you in that world." That's exactly what game developer Avalanche Software wanted to do.